So I have to travel to Lafayette, LA next week for business, and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good place to eat. Additionally, if there happent to be any places to check out for shaving items, that would also be nice. Thanks, Mike
Wish I could help you but that's out of my range o' knowledge. I can help you out if you ever land in Alexandria/ Pineville. It might be helpful to say what kind of food you like, though. From what I've heard, Lafayette is chock full of all kinds of good eating. Oh... I think Fuzzy's down in that area. You might try PMing him.
I'm looking for local cuisine - I can get steaks, etc., anywhere. I want good Louisiana cuisine - cajun/creole, I don't know if that is all over LA, or if creole predominates in one area and cajun in another.
You can find excellent seafood in Lafayette. There's lots of good eating in the town. I just don't have names and addresses for you.
Even though it's been YEARS since I've been down to south La, I've heard that Mac's Boudin is good. If you've never tried Boudin, you should! Google shows the address as 200 Marne Street.
Alright, so I asked the people at my hotel's front desk. Their first suggestion was the Blue Dog Cafe - they had a copy of the menu, and it looked like a decent enough cajun/creole restaurant, but kind of large and broad. I pressed further, and one girl told me that if I was up to it, there was a place that had the best crawfish . . . So I hopped into my car, and headed to a less traveled area of Lafayette (at least for visitors), and wound up at Louisiana Crawfish Time. Alright, let me set the stage for you. There is nothing spectacular about the place - it is nestled kind of in a residential area, the parking lot is gravel, and it isn't the largest building. You walk in, they tell you to take whatever table is open. At the table, you notice a tray with piles of saltines, a roll of paper towels, and a variety of seasonings - Worcestershire, ketchup, seasonings, hot sauce. As you look around, you see people eating, and tossing shells on the table - but really, you learn that if you move the tray to the side, there is a hole in the table over a large garbage can. The menu is simple - boiled shrimp, boiled crawfish, boiled crabs, oysters on the half shell. I go with the crawfish - you have an option of 3 lb. or 5 lb. I go with 3 lb. They bring you a large tray with seasoned, boiled crawfish - about the size of a large pizza pan. 2 boiled potatoes are in the mix. You have the option of getting some mayonnaise and making your own sauce from the ingredients on the table, or you can pay $1 and get some of the pre-made house sauce. I went with the house sauce, not knowing the intricacies of crawfish dipping sauce. I also opted to add a corn on the cob. This is good eating! I saw somewhere that the better small time eating establishments are those that stick to their origins. This is a crawfish place. You can get a few other things, but when you look around, you see that everybody has the crawfish. They do it well. Excellent seasoning, very satisfying. They even have 2 sinks at one end of the room to wash your hands afterwards - there are no utensils. Not even to eat the potatoes. You just pick them up with your hand and eat like an apple. Best eating advice I have ever gotten from hotel staff. If you come to Lafayette, and you like crawfish, or just want to try crawfish, come here. They don't even mind outsiders coming in! Friendly wait staff that is very attentive and helpful, and the "regulars" are friendly as well!
Hey Dr. Mike sounds like a great place! Man I would love to eat there, except the wife and kids won't have anything to do with crawdads. Me, I love em, I even had my wife try them a time or two and she said they tasted fine, she just refuses to eat them. Go figure. Glad you found a good place to eat while you are there. Enjoy your stay.
